Ken Hornstein wrote: >> On Locks and Quays tonight, Mike Clarke of L&L fame, whom I thought >> to be a bit of an expert, remarked that the Bingley 5-rise Lock >> Staircase was not a good solution to the problem, because every boat >> that passes through uses 5 lockfuls of water. >> >> Now, I am pretty sure that he is just plain wrong here. > > No argument here. > > The simplest way I've found to think about it is once a staircase > is "set" for a particular direction, subsequent boats take one > lockful of water. Switching from going up to going down is "free"; > switching from going down to going up consumes n (n = 5 for Bingley) > locks of water. Calculating the average water consumption means > making assumptions on how many times you change direction. If you > assume worst case (a direction switch each time), then the average > consumption is n / 2 lockfulls per boat. > > Nigel Bromley has a great web page on all this: > > http://www.caffnib.co.uk/locks.htm > > According to him (I didn't check his math) side ponds makes staircase > locks a lot more efficient in terms of water usage.
I too thought he was barking up the wrong tree with 5 lockfulls. Sideponds do save water. Just the problem of getting the boaters to use them (and BW to maintain them).... I still remember clearing out the ones at Hanwell, I'll bet they are still not in use.... BTW - program recorded OK. I've just started the mamoth task of installing software onto the new PC, and hope to be done by week end - allowing some serious uploading to be done, especially now the broadband has settled down to a nice fast connection - not much faster at uploads though... :-( New PC is really quick Hope the video editing will be mucho better. Ron Jones Process Safety & Development Specialist Don't repeat history, unreported chemical lab/plant near misses at http://www.crhf.org.uk Only two things are certain: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not certain about the universe. ~ Albert Einstein
